7-Eleven Australia is saving fresh food from going to waste with the help of The Salvation Army.
According to the retailer, thousands of food items that can’t be delivered to stores – due to Covid-19 challenges, including temporary store closures – have instead gone to The Salvation Army to help people doing it tough.
7-Eleven CEO and Managing Director Angus McKay says being able to support local communities while keeping people safe is incredibly important to the 7-Eleven team.
“Keeping our team members and communities safe while providing essentials in people’s local neighbourhoods is our key priority,” he says.
“Our approach is that as soon as there is a risk, we immediately close and deep clean a store, and then support impacted team members to isolate until there’s a negative test result, or as advised by the relevant state health department.
“Because we deliver fresh food into every store in our network every day, if a particular store is closed for deep cleaning during the delivery window, it means that stock that is already packed for that store needs to go somewhere.
“Thanks to the help of our friends at The Salvation Army, our team has been able to redirect more than 4000 meals and about three truckloads of milk, snacks, sushi, fruit and treats in the last month.”
The Salvation Army’s NSW Public Relations Secretary Major David Collinson adds that more Australians than ever are in need of support.
“All Australians are feeling the impacts of Covid-19, but some are doing it particularly tough as they struggle with food insecurity, homelessness, domestic violence, or mental health issues,” he says.
“Just like the challenges the 7-Eleven team are facing as they work to serve their customers safely, it is also a difficult time for us operationally as our team and volunteers have to operate our services in a Covid safe way.
“Having access to prepacked sandwiches, salads, sushi, hot pastries, yoghurt, milk, fruit, pre-prepared meals, and sweet treats like muffins, cakes and Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, really supplements the food options we have available to provide through our facilities and services and to our partner organisations.
“Australians are always willing to do something to help someone doing it tough, and at times like this the generosity of individuals and organisations makes an incredible difference to people needing support.
“People don’t only get access to food when they might have gone hungry. They also get some hope from the fact that someone is thinking of them, and they are not going through tough times alone. That kindness makes an incredible difference.”
